


Beneath This Artificial Skin

by ShanleenKinnJaskey



Series: We Walk These Walls [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Human, Clones, Cyborgs, Doctor Cho, F/M, Greek and Roman Mythology - Freeform, Harry has a clone, Labyrinth - Freeform, M/M, Minotaur - Freeform, Multi, POV Monster, Prince Harry - Freeform, Servant Draco, but I'm not saying where, ha ha, he's also somewhere in the maze, king voldy, princess ginny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-26 07:04:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3841606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShanleenKinnJaskey/pseuds/ShanleenKinnJaskey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Icarus is flying too close to the sun<br/>Icarus's life, it has only just begun<br/>This is how it feels to take a fall<br/>Icarus is flying towards an early grave..."<br/>-Bastille, Icarus</p><p>His name has become synonimised with falling.<br/>A flight too close to the sun.<br/>It grew too hot, melting his only support, and then he fell in a trail of burning feathers and scalding wax.<br/>Most assume this was the end of the story.<br/>But what if that boy has something else to tell?</p><p>A Story set in an alternate future where the world is ruled by major empires and their royal families, a cyborg monster stalks the corridors of the Labyrinth where the worst criminals are sent for punishment, and romance sparks between a servant and a Prince.</p><p>More warnings may be added later on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Labyrinth: i'm bleeding out

**Author's Note:**

> So yay, the third adaptation of Icarus Is Falling, and this time we're taking on HP.
> 
> Chapter titles are from "Bleeding Out" by Imagine Dragons.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics are from "Human Frailties" by Dawn Under Eclipse.  
> Arcs are from "Immortals" by Fall Out Boys.

**_:_ **

**_::_ **

_**I look around to find the source** _

_**Of all this fury** _

_**Our soul is a crystal fragile form** _

_**So easy to corrupt** _

_**I taste your human frailty**_

_**::** _

_**:** _

 

  **::arc present: i'm still comparing your past to my future**

Trapped in an endless maze, Draco tries to understand.

He'd thought that Prince Harry had loved him, and he's having a hard time reconciling the man he loves with the man who threw him in here.

> _-i hate you_  Harry said _i never want to see you again-_
> 
> _\- i love you_ he replied _please tell me what has happened to you-_

There is a monster down here in the maze. No one knows what it is, but Draco has a feeling about it. It's not a good feeling. 

(Draco's feelings have never been wrong)

(Except about Prince Harry, a little voice reminds him)

There is an artificial sun down here in this underground maze. It sheds a dismal light upon the labyrinth and the insignificant beings contained within it, but Draco does not put much stock in it.

> - _you are insignificant_ his prince said _you are merely a lowly servant_ -
> 
> - _why_ the question graced his lips _what have I done to deserve your hatred_ -

Falling.

A fall from grace, undeserved.

> _-I love you_  he tried to scream as he was taken away _i thought you loved me too-_

"Tell me, world," he whispers to himself as he edges along a wall, "Why must everything be so artificial?"

Everything is fake, a false cover for a hideous, uncaring world.

Rigid silicon and unbending metal and hard plastic.

The metal walls, the silicon sun, and the plastic face of Harry as he was taken away.

(Harry- even the word tasted sweet on his lips)

(Even after his betrayal- How could it possibly still taste so sweet when Harry had hurt him so badly?)

There is an old story about a Labyrinth, isn't there?

A Story about a fierce monster that ate children. Half bull, half man.

(But still more human than Harry the last time Draco saw him)

He would roam the maze, carrying with him a festering soul of hatred and loneliness. No one would ever love him or care for him. The world took away his humanity, and over time he became just what they were calling him:

An It.

There was no longer a heart, an ability to love. Instead there was only a frozen sphere of broken glass and pitted iron, a life devoted to death and revenge.

> _-don't send me down there_ he protested _you know what happens to its victims_ -
> 
> _-i don't care_ his prince said _you deserve it-_
> 
> _-stop saying that_ Draco cried _you can't mean it-_

That is the curse of the Prince's labyrinth- it turns a person's heart into something dark and artificial. Devoting every waking moment to the search for a way out can turn a person into something devoid of soul, something inhuman.

Draco stops and lets his inner walls down for only a split second, just long enough for a single tear to fall down his scarred cheek.

> _-i do_ his prince said and turned his back-

Who could have guessed that something that had been so real and beautiful would deteriorate to this?

 

***

 

**::arc past: it might be your wound, but they're my sutures**

When Draco met Harry was at the funeral of both their fathers. Old friends since childhood, King Sirius Black and his manservant Lucius Malfoy had died in an attack on the palace.

Draco had only been nineteen years old. Dressed in his nicest clothing (it wasn't much- just a black button-down shirt, faded black slacks, and black leather boots), he first saw the grieving Prince by the mausoleum of their fathers. The young man- merely fifteen years old- had just been handed the responsibility of the entire kingdom and the news of his father's death in the same day. Nico felt sorry for the young prince.

As custom dictated, the other mourners left at dusk, leaving behind the two sons of the dead women to finish the vigil through the night. Kneeling at the grave next to the Prince of Briterica, Draco was ashamed to find himself noticing through his grief how handsome the prince was. The setting sun turned the Prince's hair a obsidian color and his emerald green eyes gained a bright sheen. His tailored black waistcoat fit him perfectly, and the thin chain of gold beads encircling his wrist that signified him as the Heir Apparent shone softly in the sunset.

The ceremony that sent the dead souls to the next life allowed for speaking after an hour, but only whispering. Surprisingly, Prince Harry was the first to speak. "Draco," He said, his voice hoarse from crying, "I can't believe he's gone. He was everything to me, the only friend I've ever had. I'm sorry about your father as well- neither deserved to die like that- but I can't believe-" His voice cracked and he had to stop himself for a minute so he could gather his composure, "-Well, I just can't believe he's gone."

In his haze of grief and other strange, alien feelings burning in his heart, Draco forgot about protocol and the rules in their high-tech society. He reached over and placed a comforting hand on the Prince's shoulder.

A raw, anguished sob escaped the sobbing man's lips at the touch of another human being. It didn't matter to the Prince that Draco Malfoy was the son of a servant, the lowest of the low; it only mattered that Draco had been the first person to see past the stoic, silently grieving Prince and into the young man who was stuck inside, screaming his heart in the pure anguish that can only be truly experienced when someone you love dies.

Draco knew what he was going through, could sense that he needed a human connection to keep him from withdrawing from the world, because he was going through the exact same thing himself.

"My Prince-" He started softly, his North Britannian accent showing through, but he was cut off by the Prince.

"Harry. Just..." Another sob, "Please call me Harry. I need someone to call me by my name, to remind me that I'm a person outside of my title."

"Yes, Pri-" Draco cut himself off and tried again. "... _Harry_." The name tasted so foreign on his tongue, yet so sweet and full of unfinished promises.

They continued whispering through the night, helping each other get through the vigil. Every time Draco spoke Harry's name his heart fluttered. _Why?_ He wondered, _I've only just met him. I guess it's kind of nice to finally talk to him after being separated all our lives by our stations and our mothers' wishes, but this feels different...almost special._


	2. Wingless: so if the last thing that i do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics are from "Northern Downpour" by Panic! At the Disco.  
> Arcs are from "I Just Wanna Run" by Downtown Fiction.
> 
> Fred is Harry's cousin in this fic, and Blaise is Draco's. Why? For reasons.

_**:** _

_**::** _

_**If all our life is but a dream** _

_**Fantastic posing greed** _

_**Then we should feed our jewelry to the sea** _

_**For diamonds do appear to be** _

_**Just like broken glass to me** _

_**::** _

_**:** _

 

**::arc present: i just want to run, hide it away**

A gamble- a shot in the dark.

Left or right?

Draco pauses at a fork in the corridors, surveying his options. There isn't much he can base his decision on- he has no information or prior knowledge to refer to.

(Not that established knowledge had helped him in the past)

> - _tell me Dray_ Harry said, long before he ended up turning on Draco _have you ever looked up at the sky and thought about how free the stars are-_

He isn't free now. He's more imprisoned than Harry ever felt.

> - _don't you wish we could fly into the sky_ Harry asked _and just get away from everything_ -
> 
> - _we'd have to leave Fred and Blaise_ Draco pointed out, naming their respective cousins-
> 
> _-I guess you're right_ Harry frowned, then smiled _you always are_ -

He can't fly now. If he'd been smart back then, then he might have realized what a foolish dream it had been. Instead, he'd been buoyed by a false sense of love and hope that made his heart soar.

As he turns instinctively to the left and runs down that corridor, reality is quickly setting in.

He is a fool, and he let himself be led into a trap.

He still doesn't understand why Harry, his beloved prince, sentenced him to the Labyrinth. A punishment reserved for only the worst of criminals, he has no idea what he has done to deserve it.

> - _Harry_  Draco said, turning his head to face his prince _why do you love me-_
> 
> _-because you're yourself_ Harry answered without hesitation _you're smart, hard-working, and not afraid to criticize me when I need it_ -

He hears a grief-ridden muffled sound from around the corner. It sounds strangely sorrowful, almost like the sound of a person crying.

He follows the sound, but he never seems to get all the way there. It keeps moving away, frustrating him to no end. He follows it for hours through the maze, and by the time it finally stops moving he's about ready to give up, a sheen of sweat decorating his forehead.

(He hasn't had this much physical exertion since he moved into Harry's wing of the palace)

"Hello?" He says, chancing a whisper for the first time since he's entered this dreaded maze that reeks of grief and despair. His voice is slightly raspy from disuse.

The muffled crying stops. "Draco?" A quiet voice says, surprise obvious in their tone. 

(No. Just...no)

(It was not possible to hear that voice. Just. Not. Possible.)

> - _Draco_ Harry said _i love you. as long as there are stars in the sky i shall love you-_
> 
> _-and i you_ Draco replied, a rare smile on his face-

"My Prince?" He murmurs in a tone of disbelief.

(Impossible)

Everything is wrong. Since the last time he slept (one, two days?) his beloved had betrayed him, sent him to the Labyrinth, and has now shown up crying and locked away behind a panel in the maze.

(Well, at least his voice is)

 

**::arc present: i'm out here all alone**

Prince Harry is hunched over. His arms are wrapped around his knees, drawing them up to his chest.

(Broken is what he is)

> - _darkness. pure, unadulterated darkness_ -

He can feel the darkness closing in around him, the walls of the small space he's trapped in suffocating him.

This heroic prince is scared.

His secret?

He's claustrophobic. And afraid of the dark.

(Push it away- push it all away)

(Get rid of the fear)

> - _whisper smiles breaking the darkness of the closet-_
> 
> _-come on out, my prince_ Draco said, reaching out a reassuring hand _your uncle's gone. it's okay to come out now. I won't let him get to you again-_
> 
> _-golden threads of hope, of a connection, weaving their way into his broken, bitter heart-_

Bittersweet, splintered memories.

Draco had saved him then, had been the first person besides his abusive uncle to find out about his secret fear.

Draco had never told a soul and for that Harry will be forever grateful. He wants to be everyone's hero, to protect them, and how can he do that of he has such petty, irrational fears that incapacitate him so easily? 

(Not totally irrational, his memories remind him)

> _-even after Draco saved him he was afraid-_
> 
> _-afraid of his uncle, with his eyes that were endless pools of twisted, fractured gold-_
> 
> _-even the light of Draco's soul never truly brightened his lonely days-_

But Draco can't save him now. Harry doesn't know where he is, but even that isn't the biggest problem. Before the darkness of this small, horrible room had come, he'd seen something horrifying.

(Don't think about it)

(Don't let the hate grow)

(You're better than that)

A voice echoes into his thoughts. Muffled and quiet, but still unmistakable.

> - _at least not until that day-_
> 
> _-the day of the dancing and the lights-_

"Dray?" Harry chances, the broken, quiet word slipping out. He can't force any other words out- it's as if his words are too full of feelings, of unspoken hope that they will all flood out if he speaks, falling to the ground where they'll burst on the dark, cold floor.

"My Prince?" Draco's voice says, disbelief evident. The sound of his voice is like music to Harry's ears, a tantalizing symphony of honey and chocolate and everything good in life. A ray of tender hope enters his heart.

(But what if... his heart asks, but what if he's like that **thing**?)

No, he can't be. It's just not possible. If it is then Harry's heart will splinter and crack and break. Having always been a fragile thing, having the first person who ever truly loved him

(Not because of pity like his mother)

(Not because of wealth like the ladies of the court)

hurt would devastate him. And if this voice he's hearing ends up being false, a dream or a creature like the one he'd seen, then that will end him and his lonely, aching heart.


End file.
